Our flight was 90 minutes late, which was actually not such a bad thing, since we could sleep a little more than if we had left at 7. There is a new spiffy and very large international terminal at the Sao Paulo airport, but it only took us about a half hour to get off the plane, through customs and to the taxi stand. Then it was another 90 minutes to cover the 15 miles to our hotel. Traffic here is what you would expect in a city of 18 million!

After the necessary trip to the elliptical, we went out walking around towards our old neighborhood. Joe may not be very good with directions, but he can find a book store he hasn’t been in in 30 years. Our visit there got prolonged by the heavy downpours, which also was the reason for a long stop in Starbucks! By early evening, the rain was no longer torrential, but the streets were like rivers. We navigated back to our old neighborhood and saw that the very same swing our 4 year old David fell off was still there! Not a terribly happy memory, since it caused a slight skull fracture, days in the hospital, and lots of anxiety, but I was surprised it hadn’t moved an inch or changed color.

We ended the day with a dinner at an old neighborhood favorite, Losteria do Piero, and well, let’s just say the memories should have been left untouched. Not a bad meal by any means, but the agriao (water cress) salad had fallen many notches. The pasta was still good, but I had been dreaming about that agriao salad!Read more